Could ketamine be the answer to treating treatment-resistant major depressive disorder?
General Psychiatry August 1, 2020 Abdullah Ramadan, I. Mansour 16 citations
Ketamine, an NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist approved by the FDA in 2019, offers a potential treatment for the 53% of patients with major depressive disorder who remain symptomatic after standard therapy. It is used for treatment-resistant depression, depression with suicidal ideation, mood and anxiety disorders, and bipolar depression. Side effects include psychiatric worsening, dissociation, cardiovascular changes, headache, and dizziness. This study measured ketamine's effects on treatment-resistant MDD patients and analyzed how its mechanism differs from and may be safer than other antidepressants like SSRIs, MAOIs, and TCAs.